I came across this DIY project on Craftershock.com and instantly fell in love. What a fabulous vintage detail to add to your outdoor summer soiree or garden party. I can see them hanging from trees or stringed lights. I love them so much I’m trying to figure out how I can incorporate them in an event of my own! The idea is to find used light bulbs that you can in turn recycle into these hanging vases.

Here is how to make them, courtesy of Craftershock.com

Step 1: Using fine-tooth metal saw, gently saw the bottom of light bulb. Pull out the filaments.

Step 2: Using a hand held drill place metal against some scrap wood and poke two holes opposite from each other.

Step 3: Lace thin wire through the holes and tie off at desired length. Fill with lovely blooms.

My creative juices got the best of me a few days ago and after some more discussion with my Destination Connecticut Wedding (look out! That is one of our new packages! ?) bride, I created some more floral mock-ups! We went with some thick and short chunkie vases and two unexpected vessels… my beautiful “Duck” wine decanter from Pottery Barn, and some vintage glass Coke bottles. If you’ve been reading my blog for a long period of time or know me personally, you’d know that I love using unconventional and unusual things in my tablescapes to amp it up or change the definition of the design. I also love brides who are “daring” enough to have a variety of different table designs at their event. The modern wedding is moving away from those tried and true traditions of uniformity and I couldn’t be happier. Why should every table look the same and why do you’re bridesmaids need to all wear the exact same dress? Dare to be different – but be sure to be yourself! Now, back to my mock ups…

I’m a big fan of grouping things in odd numbers… 3’s, 5’s, 7’s… it looks more natural and less forced. I also believe in varying the heights of grouped objects as it adds a nicer dimension to a table display. Using my unconventional Coke bottles, we came up with this fun tablescape that would be beautiful on a dessert or sweet table, favor table, or repeated on tall and thin cocktail height tables for your cocktail hour. You can also use single bottles adorned with one flower each as décor on your passed hors d’oeuvres tray(s). It’s a little bit country, totally unpretentious, and absolutely fabulous. You can find old Coke bottles virtually anywhere, and they are dirt cheap to boot. I love the look of the thick, green-tinted glass. I wish I had taller versions of this bottle because the mixture of the short and tall would look spectacular! This mock up is completely gratuitous as it doesn’t go with my Destination Connecticut Bride’s theme, but I wanted to share the idea with you anyway. . .

In keeping with our romantic wine theme, I grabbed my beautiful and sleek “Duck” wine decanter that I purchased from Pottery Barn as a Christmas present to myself last year. It’s no longer for sale, but you could probably find it on eBay or something similar at another department store. What I loved about this vessel is its sleek and continuous lines. The arrangement is glamorous without being pretentious. Its unexpected but it makes sense, which is important in any good design. We decided that we are definitely using my wine decanter in the bar area, along with some wine bottles and an additional wine decanter from Pottery Barn.

On the tables we’re going to use a mixture of low and tall vases filled with garden flowers and roses. The bride wants it to look “polished yet deconstructed” which should be an interesting challenge for our future florist. The low vases will be similar to the ones pictures below, and we’ll use my cork idea to fill tall cylinder vases which will have similar flowers in them.

What do you think? What are some of your favorite unconventional vessels?

Rainy days are great for putting time aside to create mock ups. Can I just say that I love designing mock ups? It always brings out my inner MacGyver as I scramble around and improvise a table setting with a hair scrunchie and a can of spray paint. I have an ’09 bride who is having her destination wedding here in Connecticut, and based on some of her ideas, we decided to develop some centerpiece templates to discuss with the florist. We’re doing a romantic wine theme with pinks, merlot, silvers, caramel browns, and the color of cork. To die for. All we need are some crystal embellishments to reflect candle light and add some glamour to our tablescape. Since she is so far away I emailed her a miniscape of what I think we can do, pulling together the elements I had available.

Enter — one in-need-of-polishing silver vase and one round traditional vase, one mini vase, 2 dozen cottage roses in a beautiful pink, wine corks, two silver candle holders, two taper candles, and three tea lights. The result?

Ah, I love it! What do you think? I would also like to use wine bottles in varying heights and colors with a view peonies or hydrangeas tucked in to bring some height to the table. I love the look of wine bottle vases / centerpeices!

More planning ideas to come from this uber special event..

As an event and wedding planner, you often have the opportunity to “test drive” a lot of products that vendor’s market to brides. We enjoy this process and find it helpful when recommending quality products and vendors to our brides. One company, Wonderful Graffiti, recently sent us sample swatches of their product and we instantly fell in love! What is Graffiti? From the experts themselves. . .

Wonderful Graffiti is very thin pieces of matte vinyl that look “printed” when applied to most smooth surfaces. Your entire wedding Graffiti design arrives on one sheet of transfer paper. Just tape the transfer paper into place, burnish it down and peel it away. Only the individual letters and graphic elements remain. Wonderful Graffiti removes quickly, and won’t harm underlying surfaces.

The possibilities for using Wonderful Graffiti are endless, truly. Since it is nontoxic, easily removable, and doesn’t leave a residue, you can use it anywhere. On the doors of the church, your dance floor, reception walls, or even your “get-away” car.

Personally, I love the element of using typeface and words as a design element in your wedding. With the right font, monogram, poem, and design, you can add a unique piece of art which will act as a focal point to your wedding! Its totally original and something you can customize to suit your style, personality, and individual love story.

Browse their website to view real weddings that used their product. They have hundreds of examples, prefabricated items, and the ability to customize your wedding graffiti into your personal monogram, favorite verse or poem. Wonderful Graffiti can also be used to decorate your home, office, or add an additional element of decor to the next event you throw (we especially liked the Americana themed graffiti in light of Independence Day!).

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Yesterday afternoon my UPS driver delivered customized monogrammed napkins I had made for a client of mine who is throwing a surprise “69th birthday celebration” in August. I ordered them from ForYourParty.com, and I have to say, I’m impressed with the quality of the napkin and the stamped monogram! The guest of honor has a definite style, and is very particular about things. From what I understand, every suit, shirt, tie,… even his shoes have his monogram somewhere on them. So, I suggested that we carry that theme over into his celebration with small and inexpensive touches like the napkins (which were totally affordable!).

A way to add some dimension and texture to your escort card table is to vary the coloring and design on your escort cards. Play off your color theme by choosing three different colored card stock or ink color and pick the colors at random for each place card. Unless you are going for a monochromatic look, this variation really adds a lot of color and style without being expensive! It’s a simple idea that you can really run with. If you’re using ribbon or embellishments on your place cards, vary the color, texture, and pattern on those. Some of my favorite examples are below, courtesy of TheKnot and the image to the left is from Martha Stewart Weddings.

I love designing table scapes, especially for intimate dinners and parties. I’m always looking to acquire unique and beautiful vases, pitchers, and other containers to use on the table and as interactive pieces for dinner (I love best when things serve a multipurpose!). I have a closet full of greatly shaped containers in a variety of different textures. While surfing the ‘net this afternoon, I came across this darling website called Three Potato Four. They are based out of Virginia where they run their self-proclaimed “mom and pop shop.” What I love most, besides almost every single item they sell on their website, is that they’ve taken the leg work out of finding unique vintage pieces. They have a wealth of items to browse, but my favorite was their array of unique, delectable and colorful pitchers, containers, vases, whatever!

I first fell in love with this milk bottle carafe that looks so beautiful with a single flower, a bouquet, or just filled with your mornings orange juice. I love the shape of it and the thickness of the glass. It is a unique piece that I can’t wait to use!

Of similar ilk is this vintage water bottle that also looks wonderful with just a single bloom. My mom use to have these types of vintage pieces that she would occasionally pick up at tag sales or estate sales. She especially loves medicine bottles.

My most favorite item is their alphabet gift tags. I’ve emailed them about personalizing the order to just include a set amount of one letter. I doubt it is possible unless they are vintage inspired pieces, but if they can offer that option, these would be wonderful as favor tags and in other elements of a weddings design. And because they are black and white they can appeal to a variety of different decor palettes. Either way, I’m ordering myself a set. For $8.oo, how can you go wrong?